Situated in the heart of the city that the Portland Trail Blazers, Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns all call home, Portland State University gives students the opportunity to get experience, score internships and build connections in the world of professional sports.
Many professors have connections with sports teams and events, and students benefit from their networks and from the training, knowledge and resources they learn in classes.
“One of my communications professors got me into an NBA game,” says Annie Schutz, PSU alum ’21. That same professor introduced Schutz to one of his connections with the Trail Blazers, which led to a job shadow at a game.
“They let me shoot the whole game and that was where I was like, I want to be a sports photographer,” says Schutz.
Other students get their start working in PSU's Division I athletics program, gaining skills in sports photography, filming, editing, marketing and more. This allows students to get their foot in the door, paving the way for future opportunities with professional sport teams.
Many PSU alumni are now working behind-the-scenes for local and national sports teams. Whether they're shooting film courtside or running social media for a team, these talented alumni have used the skills and connections they gained at PSU to build successful careers.
Documenting the story
“I did not grow up as a sportsperson,” says Schutz ’21. “I never played a sport.” Instead, Schutz found her way into the sports world through an unconventional channel: working as a camera operator for college teams.
Schutz randomly took a media production course while attending Utah Tech, where she discovered a passion for shooting athletics. However, her opportunities at Utah Tech were limited so she decided to reach out to the athletic department at Portland State – she had family in Oregon – to ask if they hired students to operate cameras during games.
When she got a yes, she transferred to PSU, where she majored in arts and letters and minored in film studies and communications.
During her time at PSU, the professors and classes in the film department were significant to Schutz. “They really pushed me and made me a better writer and a better director. They made me look at how I make content for sports really differently. I attribute a lot of my success to that and [it’s] how I've been able to make myself stand out in a crowd,” she says.
They really pushed me and made me a better writer and a better director. They made me look at how I make content for sports really differently.
Schutz currently works as a social content producer at FanDuel and does freelance work for a variety of brands, agencies and athletes. During the football season, she works as a photo editor for the NFL, editing live photo batches during games. She also previously worked for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers as a digital content producer, team photographer and team videographer.
She says her critical lens as a film student and director has helped her differentiate herself in the sports world.
“I want my sports photography to look like a still from a movie. A lot of sports photography is very action-y, and I think for a lot of sports creatives, it’s a lot of holding the shutter down and hoping that you get a shot,” she says. “But I apply the technical stuff I learned in my film classes, like pre-planning and storyboarding and color grading. I go in thinking about the shot I want and how I can plan to get it.”
In the future, Schutz says she wants to continue to prioritize working with underrepresented groups. “My goal is to always cover general intersectionality and minorities in sports, so any opportunities that I can get to work with queer athletes or female athletes, black and brown athletes, that's always the goal. I want to document their stories,” she says
In the end, it’s those stories that drive her more than the sports. “I still am not a huge sports fan but I am a huge fan of these athletes," Schutz says. “I think my general goal is to show people that this is a dope person, not just because of how talented they are, but because of who they are.”
Paving the way to a dream job
“Connections mean everything,” says Dominic Wilson-Carr, who graduated PSU with a film degree in 2023.
While attending Portland State, Wilson-Carr’s professor, Pam Minty, Film instructor, urged him to apply for an internship with Koerner Camera Systems, the leading cinema camera rental house in the Pacific Northwest.
“I'm glad I ended up doing it,” Wilson-Carr says. “It was great to be able to work with professional directors of photography and camera operators, and get the hang of operating cameras, putting the rigs together and things like that.”
But Wilson-Carr got even more than hands-on experience. He also left the internship with a contact at the Portland Trail Blazers.
Thanks to that connection, Wilson-Carr was offered the opportunity to work as a production assistant on the Blazers’ media day the following year. “It was cool to actually meet the players and be on the ground floor, right next to the court and the locker room,” says Wilson-Carr. “I was like, wow, this is a dream come true for a fan.”
After media day, the Blazers offered Wilson-Carr work during the preseason, which led to his current position editing game night footage for the team. He edits game day clips and game and player highlights as well as press conferences and locker room interviews. He says it’s rewarding to see his work posted on social media.
The classes Wilson-Carr took at PSU helped familiarize him with the equipment and software he uses in his position, as well as with the world of sports videography. “There was a livestream production class, and one of the projects we did was working at the Portland Track Festival. I got to be a camera operator and a technical director,” he says. “[Learning about] the livestream form was awesome, and being able to experience that event in itself was great.”
He was also able to train on different kinds of cameras and equipment. “For my last year at PSU, we were able to purchase Sony FX6 cameras,” says Wilson-Carr. “Those are the same cameras that the videography team for the Blazers use when they're courtside, filming the players. So if I ever get that opportunity to be a full-time videographer, I already understand how to use that camera so I don't think it'll be too hard of a transition.”
Wilson-Carr hopes to continue working with the Blazers on editing and videography. “When the season's over, I’d like to be able to help out with some separate work and keep building relationships, maybe to the point where I can get a full-time position with them,” he says. “That would be great.”
From college athletics to the MLS
“I’ve always had a passion for sports. I’ve gone from being a fan, to being responsible for producing creative social content to drive fans to games,” says Eric Riley ’22.
Riley majored in business administration with a concentration in marketing at Portland State. He now works as the social media coordinator for the Portland Timbers2 and the U15 and U17 Timbers Academy. He also supports the social pages for the Portland Timbers. “I’m creating a platform for young athletes, getting them ready for the next step in their career,” he says.
Riley’s first experience working in sports was with Portland State’s Athletic Department while he was a student at PSU. He worked on almost every sport in the department, and ran the social media accounts for the football, men’s basketball and women’s golf teams.
I’ve gone from being a fan, to being responsible for producing creative social content to drive fans to games.
The hands-on experience helped his career significantly. “It’s where I got my foot in the door,” he says. “The people in the department trusted me to develop and create.”
The business and marketing classes Riley took at PSU also helped prepare him for his current role with the Timbers. “Maybe it’s pretty on the nose, but the digital media marketing classes were really helpful,” Riley says.
Content for now, Riley also sees the possibility for growth in his future.
“It’s been a dream job. I'm a local kid, I went to a local school and now I’m working for the local professional sports team,” he says. “Ultimately, I’d love to be a director of content. But this is a great start – it’s my first full-time job. Everyone around me is very supportive. They are making me a better content creator.”
From higher education to sports in the community
“Most people actually thought I’d end up as an athletic director,” Robin Beavers ’05 says. “I have a passion for the athletic world. But my path has been different from most people — I started in business, then worked in nonprofits and higher education for years.”
Along that path, Beavers spent years volunteering with her sons’ sports teams, helping students and parents go through NCAA requirements for college.
Then, when she was a master's student in PSU's Education, Policy, Foundation and Administration (PACE) program, she worked alongside athletic directors and sat on the intercollegiate athletics board. She later worked for PSU in the Office of Enrollment Management as the Assistant Director for Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach, helping youth and families prepare for and enroll in college.
When Beavers finally ended up in the sports world — where she always wanted to work — the circuitous journey was worth it. She says she doesn’t know if she could have taken another route because the knowledge compounds and builds upon itself.
Ultimately, Beavers’ journey helped make her a natural choice for the role of VP of Community and Social Impact at the Portland Timbers and Thorns.
“[The Timbers] are still a business,” Beavers explains. “Organizational culture is really important. All of my past jobs have prepared me to do the work, and made me a well-rounded employee with experiences outside the sports world.”
With the Portland Timbers, Beavers works to support, uplift and connect the team to the Portland community. She organizes and supports community initiatives that touch on education, wellness, the environment and more. One of the main programs she’s involved with is called “Stand Together.” It brings players, fans, corporate sponsors and community members together to make the city a better place.
“There’s a week every year when we all volunteer together. We also sponsor the Rose City Readers, which brings our mascot, Timber Joey, into kindergarten through third grade classrooms to read to kids. And [we do] environmental work too,” Beavers says.
This has included a partnership with the organization Friends of Trees, in which, for every goal the Timbers score during a home game, the team plants a tree in a Portland neighborhood.
“I enjoy this work,” Beavers says. “I get to help the club make a difference.”